Happy Birthday Emma!

April 2011 - on the bumper cars in Busch Gardens

April 2011 - Busch gardens, Tampa, FL

Happy 11th Birthday to my daughter Emma. Growing up fast. Heres a few pictures from our recent vacation in Florida. Enjoy your sleepover party Emma!!

Observations on the Royal Wedding

My observations on the Royal Wedding:

1. The bride looked wonderful, and her dress was beautiful and sophisticated
2. William's red uniform looked cheerful, and smart at the same time. A great choice
3. Harry should've combed his hair and held his shoulders back
4. Princess Anne's outfit looked like something the Easter bunny threw up (quote from my friend Christine)
5. Victoria Beckham looked like "an extra in Twilight" as one fashion guru said...and I agree

6. The Queen's outfit looked sunny and stylish, the Duke of Edinburgh looked like a skeleton
7. There were some bizarre hats worn!


And finally.....

8. Harry just HAS to be James Hewitt's son. There is nothing of Charles in his appearance whatsoever.

Happy Wedding Day!

Hmmm, not so sure about the "Duke and Duchess of Cambridge" title. The link to Wales has been removed......nice dress though

Royal Wedding

Just spent the evening watching all the hype leading up to the Royal Wedding which is due to take place tomorrow. Hour after hour of in depth analysis of the event, dress, cake, flowers, venue, and of course, the cast of characters. Interviews with William and Harry, interviews with friends of Kate (oops, sorry...Catherine), and a summary of Diana's life ...I have to say...it was great and I loved every minute of it. I will not be getting up at 4am tomorrow to watch it live though. Rule Britannia!!

Sweet Sage Cafe

We were lucky enough to find a wonderful place for breakfast while in Florida. It is called the Sweet Sage Cafe (http://www.sweetsagecafe.com/) and is located on Gulf Boulevard in North Redington Beach. From the outside it looks like a gift store, with some garden-inspired nick-nacks. However closer inspection revealed an outdoor eating area and I have never seen such wonderful surroundings for a breakfast place. Everywhere you look there are trees, plants, flowers, garden ornaments, lights and all sorts of whimsical notices and trinkets scattered throughout the plants. The food was excellent and the staff very friendly. It may seem a bit unadventurous to some, but we had breakfast there every day, because it was so enjoyable. This morning, sitting in the kitchen staring at my bowl of "Honey bunches of Oats" I realized that I was missing it already.

Busch Gardens - a disappointing day

Sheikra

Of course, no trip to the Gulf beaches with kids would be complete without a visit to Busch Gardens however it was a day full of disappointments. The first disappointment was when we saw the price of an entrance ticket; $78 per person no less! Over $300 for the family for the day! Nothing is THAT good. Luckily we found a Burger King offer online which gave us $20 off per ticket, making it a bit easier to swallow. Of course when we arrived we had to dig into our pockets again for the $13 parking fee which gave us the right to park our car at the far end of a very large parking lot.

Montu

We started off well going on the Gwazi  wooden rollercoaster twice followed by Sheikra, one of only 4 vertical drop roller coasters in the world (apparently). We then traveled around the "Serengeti plain" on the train, seeing some zebra and giraffe. Things went downhill from then on. Two of the rides (the Montu rollercoaster and the skyride) were closed for maintenance. Then other rides started closing one after another due to a thunderstorm looming on the horizon. Eventually the skies opened and we experienced a huge thunder and lightening storm and torrential rain. The park never reopened after that and we trooped out thinking about our washed out day and how little we had managed to do for such a lot of money. Not a good day and the worst part was that the Anheuser Busch hospitality tent was no longer offering free beer. Very disappointing.

A week in the sun

Just back from a week's vacation in Florida. We stayed along the Gulf coast, at North Redington Beach. The beaches along the Gulf Coast consist of miles of beautiful white sand. The weather was perfect staying consistently at 85-90 degrees (toasty!)

  We took a trip to Caladesi Island one day. This is one of the few completely natural islands along Florida´s Gulf Coast, and Caladesi´s white sand beaches were rated America's Best Beach in 2008. We took a small ferry across to the island and enjoyed wandering along the boardwalk to the beach. We were even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of some dolphins, albeit quite a way out in the sea.
  We also spent some time wandering around Dunedin, the city across the water from Caladesi Island. The name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland and the Scottish influence is obvious. We were greeted by a brass band of kilt-wearing teenagers playing catchy songs on the street - not accompanied by bagpipes (thankfully). All we needed was a drunken Scotsman to swear at us and we could've been in the real Scotland.
  When we arrived back in Massachusetts Spring had definitely arrived. The trees were covered in blossom, forsythia and daffodils were out, the temperature had picked up to a comfortable level and it felt good to be home....yeah right... 
   

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day (UK) to my mother. Enjoy your day.

Another birthday!

Happy Birthday to my husband Tony, 21 today (I wish :)

The wrath of grapes

Feeling a bit under the weather today. Thumping headache, delicate stomach. Must be a virus. Oh by the way, had a great night last night with neighborhood friends. Lots of talking, eating and drinking until the early hours. I used the fact that I was slurring my words as my indicator that it was time to leave.....hey, wait a minute. Don't suppose these events could be related do you?...

“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day. ”

This blog post contains complaints and wingeing

Lately we have been irritated by the BBC evening News which gives reminders before every report that "this report contains flash photography". Whats all that about? I assume they are worried that someone will be affected by the flashes and will sue them? I think there should be some more warnings given prior to each news report to let us know about undesirable content. Examples would be " This reporter has an unfathomable accent", "this report contains useless statistics and facts",  "this presenter has seriously bad dress sense" , and one I would look out for would be "this report contains soccer".

15 years!!

Happy Anniversary to my husband Tony.

Alive again!!

I feel like a dormouse must feel when waking up from hibernation. For the first time in many months its been possible to spend time outside and its been great! The snow has gone from everywhere except the shadiest spots, the sun is out and although its not exactly warm, as long as you wear a thick sweatshirt, the temperature is comfortable. So yesterday I spent a few happy hours tidying up the flower beds in the backyard. My back was aching, and my boots and gloves were filthy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Today I am going to tempt fate by buying and planting out a few hardy pansies and primroses to add a bit of color to the beds. The chairs are out on the deck (albeit sans cushions...) so Spring better be round the corner now. No more snow please (or if you must snow, sprinkles only...)

Old fart

I logged into Amazon today and the DVD it had recommended for me was "Easy yoga for arthritis". All I need now is the "Blue Rinse for all" and "Zimmer maintenance" DVDs and my collection will be complete.

Funny for some

I am listening to a Bill Bryson book on my iPod called "I'm a stranger here myself" and I have come to the conclusion that, to enjoy this book at its fullest you really need to have spent some time living in both the UK and the USA. The book is a series of articles that he wrote for a UK newspaper (The Daily Mail) and it focuses on observations of his life in the US and the differences between that and his previous life in the UK (he is an American who spent 27 years living in the UK, where he met his English wife). Some of the articles are pretty funny but possibly would not be understood by all readers. An example is one entry he wrote about the agonies of visiting the hairdresser/barber. He leaves the barbershop looking like, in his words, a lemon meringue with ears. When he gets home his wife asks him what on earth he has done to his hair. He explains that he told the barber he wanted to look "like a banker" to which his wife replied, "well at least you rhyme". How many Americans would understand that I wonder...this would probably explain why, when I told a couple of my work colleagues that I was reading a Bill Bryson book they replied "why?", and proceeded to describe how they had read his books and found them boring.

It seems to me that one of the big differences between the Brits and the Americans is that the Brits love gardening and can probably give you the botanical name of most flowers in your backyard, whereas the Americans are obsessed with their health and can probably tell you the pharmaceutical name of every pill and potion in your medicine cabinet...

Making choices

Hmm...Chinese or Ceramics?

Robert is in the final year of middle school and as such, has to make choices about the courses he wants to do next year in high school.  The school have really made a meal out of something that should be so simple. Tony and I went to a parents evening last week which was intended to tell us about the program. It lasted 2 hours. The students were presented with a 70 page book, outlining all the possible subjects and levels. I came to the conclusion that it could've been summed up in the following simple statement: "Your child must take a series of mandatory subjects next year, such as Math, English, a language and a science. The appropriate level (honors, A or B) will be selected by their current teachers. Theres a small number of elective subjects they can choose from".

I must say however that I am impressed with the selection of electives offered to the students. They look so interesting! I don't recall being given this sort of choice. Web Design, Theatrical  design, TV production, Interior design, Digital imaging, Exploring technology, Robotics & Electronics....makes Needlework, Cookery or "Craft, design & Technology" seem somewhat bland doesn't it?!

Spring has Sprung, the grass has ris' (I wonder where the flowers is...)

So the clocks went forward an hour this morning, and  yesterday I saw some snowdrops growing under some trees. The snow is mostly gone. Would it be too optimistic to think that Spring may be on its way?

Corned beef hash, pasties and history

Corned beef hash (yum!)

Corned beef Pasty (yum!)

This week Emma decided that she fancied some corned beef hash. To those that don't know what that is, this is a mixture of corned beef , fried onion and mashed potato, and its very tasty. It is sometimes used as the filling in a pasty (pasty: a filled pastry case, associated with Cornwall, in the south west of England, UK, made by placing the uncooked filling on a flat pastry circle, and folding it to wrap the filling, crimping the edge to form a seal. The result is a raised semicircular package....thank you wikipedia).  


So we bought a bag of potatoes, some onions and looked for corned  beef. Do you think we could find any? We looked in all the local supermarkets, plus Walmart and Target. Not a can to be found on any shelf. Whats going on?. Is there a world shortage of corned beef or a ban on this product? Then we realized that St Patrick's day is in a few days time (March 17th). This means that Americans who aspire to be Irish, and even those that don't, eat a strange mixture of corned beef and cabbage, believing this to be a traditional Irish dish. Maybe it is, all I can say is that I have never seen it on a pub or restaurant menu in Ireland. I think its a load of old blarney...

Corned Beef and Cabbage (yuk!)

 St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland (although he was born in Wales...). The patron saint of Wales is St David, and St David's day is March 1st (oops! I missed it). So what is a patron saint? I hear you ask. Its a saint who is considered to be a defender of some group or nation apparently. So there you have it. Recipes and general knowledge all in one blog post. It does not get any better than that, so it doesn't...

A modern day Jackanory

I am loving listening to audiobooks on my ipod at the moment. I am new to this form of entertainment but am an immediate fan. It is extremely relaxing to drive to work with Bill Bryson's easy-going and slightly bemused voice reading from his books. So far I have listened to 'A Walk in the Woods' and 'In a Sunburned Country', both excellent; funny and informative at the same time. I can't help but laugh out loud at times, I don't know what the driver in front thinks. My journey to and from work each day flies by, and I sometimes have to wait in the parking lot or garage while I finish listening to a chapter. Isn't technology great!

Another Birthday...

Another birthday, this time my Dad's. Happy Birthday Dad, don't overdo it!

None the wiser

Well, another year older but maybe not another year wiser. At least I have the day off work so I get a lie in and (hopefully) a cup of tea in bed (hint, hint...)

Try to look the part

Off to the gym?

Just spent an hour at the local YMCA on their indoor track (don't be impressed, I was walking, not running). I was amazed at the bizarre exercise attire donned by some of the people there. Apart from the normal lycra, and the more startling velour top and pants, I was amazed to see one woman exercising in a thick, Aran-style wool sweater. She had a pair of sweatpants on that must have previously belonged to her 400lb husband and she had to stop at regular intervals to hitch them up. Another woman was wearing a padded coat and jeans while she walked around the track and a pair of shoes that I would be embarrassed to garden in. But the most inappropriate attire seemed to be on the basketball courts below. I saw a woman running around, fully engaged in a game, wearing a pair of super-skinny tight jeans and some fur lined, mid-calf high, suede boots. I'll bet they smelled nice afterward....

I used to be indecisive; now I'm not so sure

We are about to get our bathroom remodeled, so I've started looking at faucets (taps), sinks and tiles. After just one day of looking I am already going into overload. Faucets come in chrome, pewter, gold, brass, stainless steel, bronze, white or copper finishes. They can be contemporary, modern, rustic, traditional, transitional or Victorian with one or two cross, knob or lever handles. Sinks can be under-mounted, pedestal, self-rimming or vessel, made of ceramic, glass, copper, bamboo, steel or bronze and can be shaped round, oval, square or rectangular in every color you can think of including 5 shades of white. And as for tiles! Where do I begin? Whole showrooms full of tiles, 500 of which are in varying shades of beige.
I will probably look at an endless array of fixtures, agonize over near-identical tiles, bring multiple samples home to view in different lights, then end up choosing a white oval sink with traditional chrome taps and a beige tile. Can't go wrong with that.

Out of touch with reality

Everybody is struggling with the snow. Any melting during the day immediately turns to black ice at night so grit and ice melting salts are in high demand. We ran out of salt today so we went to our local home improvement store "Lowes" to get some more. What a waste of time. If we'd have wanted to buy deck furniture or gas grills we would've had an endless choice, but there were no winter products to be seen anywhere; no snow shovels, no roof rakes, no ice-melt. IF I COULD ACTUALLY SEE THE DECK UNDER ALL THE DAMN SNOW I WOULD CONSIDER BUYING SOME DECK FURNITURE, BUT BEING AS I CAN'T, IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT YOU STOCK SOME FREAKIN ICE-MELT IN FEBRUARY?!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. . . somewhere else!

We have had such extreme weather this winter that I felt a few pictures were in order just to make sure we don't forget what a New England winter is capable of. Thankfully it is not normally this bad, but unfortunately we still have more to come, with 2 more storms forecast over the next week. These photos are the snow around our house. We have cleared the driveway multiple times, the banks of snow either side are so high our snow-blower is struggling to blow the snow over them. We had to clear the snow off our deck because of the potential problems that the weight of 4 feet of snow could bring. We had to dig a path to the deck first. Getting tired of it now but it makes for some good photos.

This is the front path

Mailbox is nearly buried

Path to the shed

Path to deck plus clearing snow from basement window

View of the garden from the deck

The snow bank is higher than the deck rails

Snow mounds either side of driveway getting too high to blow snow!